#group entry

Bluey was still feeling rather gloom and decided to slip away from her teammates shortly after finishing cutting the wood for the recent construction gig the guilds got roped into. While she'd always loved helping people, and even though she had done a good job cutting the wood evenly it did little to lift her spirits and she wasn't entirely keen on getting dragged somewhere by Tuca in her current state. Bluey sighed as she walked down the dirt path that led back towards Lakeside. She fiddled with her claws as her eyes stare blankly at the ground, lost in her own thoughts. Maybe she didn't do a good enough job on the thindle, maybe it was too simple...maybe it was too colorful...or was it too cheesy of a concept? Not that any of that mattered now but she couldn't help but wonder what she could have done better, it felt like a whole year of her life was wasted when she had to break it, she had foolishly put so much of her own worth and self-confidence in hope her confession would have gone the way she had wanted. Her mood dipped further feeling selfish about how she was feeling, it wasn't like it was anyone's fault but her own she felt hurt and maybe it was little selfish of her to want something different. Bluey stopped in her tracks and smacked the top of her helm out of frustration, and with an angry growl mixed with the echoing sound of metal impacting metal, she shook her head to try and push these thoughts out of her mind, mumbling to herself, "You are such a big baby, Bluey. You need to grow up."

She stood in silence for a few moments frowning at the ground angry at herself for feeling bad, before she was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of unfamiliar voices coming from farther up the road. Placing her hands on her cheeks she smacked the tears that had weld up from her eyes and shook off her feelings to put on her usual bright front she tried to maintain in public, Bluey has to show that she's bold, bright, and full of life. Can't have herself looking like she was upset, especially if the Pokémon ahead were new in town, her guild wouldn't very well be represented by a dull gloomy face, even though inside she wasn't feeling like her usual self today. Without hesitating further, she put on a hopefully not forced looking smile and continued her walk up the road, as she got closer she noticed a group of pokemon standing next to a lop sided wagon, it seemed a caravan was coming through and one of the wagons lost a wheel, as she walked closer to see if they needed help she started to pick up bits of the conversation.

"How did this happen?" A Mr. Mime sighed scratching the back of his head looking at the busted wheel "I don't know I was trying to pull it out of the ditch, and everything was just fine then there was a snap, and the wheel flew off!" A Tauros said shaking his head in disbelief. "What do you think Smidge? Is it repairable?" The Mime asked a Grafaiai next to him. "We'd need a whole new beam for the wheels" She frowned, "The Axel was the part of the wagon that failed. We'd need to find a bar to replace it or at least temporarily replace it till we can get in town for a full repair." "I could help y'all with that!" Bluey called as she approached the group. "Unless you got a wagon axel on you, I don't know if you can little lady." the Tauros frowned as the Mime gently thwacked his side with a gloved hand for coming across as rude. "Forgive my companion, it's been a long day. We've spent the past hour trying to pull our wagon out of this road divot we missed and in doing so we damaged it further. The strange smell from the forest nearby hasn't been pleasant while we've been trying to get ourselves out of this pickle. Its got a few of us pretty grumpy. The rest of our group couldn't stand it much more and went on ahead without us." "Oh well that's unfortunate. The vile wilds tend to have a disorienting effect of people, so I say you got lucky that you only stumbled on a hidden ditch. As for that Axel, I don't happen to have one, but I can carve one that should last you long enough to get your caravan to Lakeside." Bluey said as she displayed her blades, "I'm a pretty good wood worker." "We'd appreciate the help, I definitely don't want to leave this wagon behind to head into town and walk back to repair it. It's got a lot of our stage gear in it." The Mime said with a tired smile. "Oh, you are performers! For a moment I thought you may have been traders coming into town from Onryx City. But if you hand me the Axel pieces so I can get a rough thickness and length idea I can easily patch that up." "No, but we did have a show there!" The Mime chimed as he fetched the two broken pieces. Bluey examined the pieces and laid them flat on the road where she used the length of her blades and the width of her hooves to measure the dimensions before trotting over to a tree to carve out a large enough plank of wood to whittle down. As Bluey carved the wood the Mime sat crisscrossed on a nearby stump, watching her with a keen eye, after a few moments of silence he piped up "I hope this doesn't sound...weird, but are you by chance from Painted Sands?" "Huh? Oh y-yeah I was born there! Thats a very specific observation, not probing my mind are you?" She said with a raised brow, "why do you ask?" "O-Oh goodness no! I just happened to notice that trinket around your neck that's peaking out from your poncho from time to time. Thats a whats it called-" He trailed for a moment snapping his fingers in thought, "A thindle! Thats what that is right?" "Oh uh yeah it is. It's my personal one I made to represent myself. We all do it when we turn 18. I'm surprised you know what it is, have you been there before?" "Oh yeah, our companion Nina is from there, so we perform there at least once every year! Gives her a chance to catch up with her family and I've always liked how lively that city is." He smiled pulling out a trinket from behind his collar, "I even made myself one last year when we visited."

"Oh that's lovely" Bluey smiled looking at the swirled design of whites and blues, "Is that bone? Thats an interesting medium to use." "Yeah, when I was a kid, I took a pretty nasty hit to the face and knocked out my two front teeth, luckily they were baby teeth and grew back. But as you can see, I got some pretty big teeth, kept them for a long time because the story over the years has become kind of a funny one to me and I thought why not represent myself with well...some of myself." "You know that's actually a pretty clever approach to a personal one. Shows how creative you are."

Her heart was racing, pounding loud enough she could hear the thundering beats in her own head, every part of her face warm with anxiety and nerves. Bluey had spent over a year designing what she thought would be the perfect thindle to give to Percy and admit how she'd felt, what his reaction would be she wouldn't fully know unless she asked. She'd been so afraid to admit her feelings because she always feared she'd be rejected, but how wonderful would it be if he accepted her feelings? How wonderful would it be to possibly one day be welcomed into another family, even if it was a fractured one. As she walked around town searching for the familiar red shine of Percy's armor amongst the crowds she could feel her stomach turning and drool pooling at the back of her throat, her body's way of saying she was so nervous she was probably going to throw up. Bluey paused for a moment to rest her hand over her chest and relax, to give her a moment to settle her nerve and steel her resolve, 

"C'mon Bluey, choke it down, if your dad could do it so can you." She said under her breath, "after all the worse he can say is no, right? Doesn't mean you can't be friends."

Clapping her hands together she pulled them up to her face and gave a quick hard blow of air as she threw her arms out to her sides to expel the fluttering feeling in her stomach.

She continued eyeing between stalls and round the usual patrol route she'd seen his brother and him take when on the job, she wasn't sure if they were on patrol today but that would be the best place to look if they were. Spotting the familiar pale gold of his axe peaking from behind a stack of crates that blocked a portion of the alley, Bluey felt a tweek of excitement pass her lips before she paused again to straighten out her poncho and to last minute dust off her hooves to make sure she hadn't scuffed up the hours of polishing she did the night before to make sure she looked as good as possible. While she wished she had a prettier mirror like finish to her metal like bastion had, she thought she did a really good job making her mat-blue shine. Swallowing her nerves, she rounded the corner and gave her biggest brightest smile.

"Good morning, Percy! Good morning, Bramble!" She tweeded greeting the two brothers.

"Hello miss Bluey." Percy greeted back as his brother waved, "How are you?"

"I am doing splendid today, I brought you and Bramble some stew Bastion made last night for you and Bramble to enjoy for lunch if you're interested!" She beamed handing the bowl to Bramble, "I made sure all the veggies and meat were small enough and soft enough so Bramble could eat it with no hassle."

"Thats nice of you!" Percy smiled while looking at the soup, "Bastion always makes good soup!"

"We're always happy to share with you guys so I'm sure Bastion will be happy to hear if you like it. Although Percy if you have a moment do you mind if I ask you something in private? Just right over there by the trees, if that's ok?" Bluey asked while tilting her head slightly to the side as she scratched the back of her left heel with her right foot out of nerves.

"Is something wrong?"

"N-no nothing wrong just something that's better to ask one on one. It's a good thing though! Or well...I hope you think it's a good thing!"

Leading the other Bisharp over to the tree's Bluey could feel her metal rattle slightly as she vibrated where she stood, she wasn't a fan of how shaky she was, it must have made her look a lot less confident than she would have liked to look. Once Percy had walked over as well, she sighed before beginning.

"Well, ahem. Where I am from my city has a traditional gift to give called a thindle. If you really like someone you carve them a trinket you think best represents what they are like to you. It's something you give to someone if you really REALLY like them and want to initiate a courtship with. An if you give them a thindle they have three days to accept it or deny it. If they accept it, well then you are dating for as long as they keep it, if they wish to end the relationship then they just return the thindle. But if they deny it you have to break the thindle and you can never ask them out again unless they change their mind and ask you."

She gave a hard swallow as her face grew warm and crimson while she pulled out a necklace with a blue and red piece of wood carved to look like a berry with a gem serving as the leaf and another jewel like marble at the core of it.

"F-for the past year i-i've been working on this because I've really liked you alot since meeting you. I designed it to look like a berry because I know how much you like to try different foods, but I also wanted it to represent your family like your brother and your cousin who are grass types which is also why I made it out of wood. Cause I know your cousins and your brother are really important to you and I wanted to respect that and show that it would also be as important to me. And I made it blue and red because we are blue and red...But I am rambling...hehheh...The truth is I think you are really great and I would love to possibly earn the honor of being welcomed in your family one day."

Bluey took a deep breath and looked the other Bisharp in the eye with her face red as a Scizzor's as she stumbled her words,

"Percy Sharp, I-I Bluey B-Bella Bonozo, w-would like to ask if you w-would accept this thindle and g-go out with me?"

“We Yield.”

And with those words, the madness of the fighting around them seemed to stop. Bluey was honestly shocked that these guardians appeared to give up their pursuit as quickly as they had started it. However, with them explaining their desire to keep the library from being destroyed and finally calming themselves enough to hear out the guilds it started to look like this day was taking a turn for the better.

As the leaders discussed their mission objective with the guardians Bluey turned to Bastion and frowned looking at his wounds which only made her wince at the pain from her blackened eye. Not liking the sting of her own cuts and the condition of Bastion’s own Bluey reached into her pack and pulled out 2 Oran berries, one for each of them.

“Here buddy.” Bluey smiled handing Bastion the blue fruit, “To close up those cuts. I uhm. I’m sorry I had to hit you literally below the belt. How are you holding up?” -I’ll live. But when I get you back the pain will be tenfold what you did to me. And you won't see it coming.- He signed with a frown as he popped the berry into his mouth, the medicinal properties of the fruit closing the bleeding wounds on his body. “Yeah, that's…fair I guess?” Bluey said as she ate her own berry to close her wounds, “Do you think those Guardian things will actually keep their word when we go in?”

-They’d better. I’d hate to see what else you’d do to the Blue one for its transgression. - He smirked.

“Trust me there is a lot I wanna do to that thing. None of it at all kind after what it did.”

-It was defending a sacred place. You can’t be too mad.-

“After what they made us do to each other I’ll be as angry at them as I’d like It made us turn on each other, like you and I haven't had enough of that in our lives.” She frowned as she glared Azelf down from where she stood.

After what felt like hours it appeared the guardians finally listened to reason and allowed the guilds entrance so long as they behaved themselves. As Bluey and Bastion approached the door she looked over to where her mother's unconscious body should have been laying but all that was left was the mask. “Where did she go?” Bluey said furrowing her brow and looking around the area

“She will return for it. Yamasks always return for their mask.” Jenga replied after examining it, “She must have slinked off to lick her wounds. Let’s not dwell on it too long. Now we have to chance to find a cure for her.”

Jenga then made his way inside the library with Bastion following closely behind him. However, despite her better judgment Bluey slowed and turned to face the trio as she passed them. Looking to grab Azelf’s attention.

“Hey.” She said with a flat tone loud enough to make Azelf turn and eye her.

“Hope you keep those scars to remember me by. Because I surely won’t forget what happened today.” “I suggest you proceed,” Azelf responded with a twitch of its tails before turning back to face its own subordinates.

Bluey chuffed and followed her companions into the library. And it was overwhelming with how large it was. She searched a bit aimlessly trying to see if she could find Bastion and Jenga once the guilds started to dig through the many old scrolls and books. When she had no luck finding him, she turned to a shelf beside her and began to flip through the books to see if she could find anything that may be useful. “These are medical books. Might be smart to jot down some notes from these to help Bramble with the journey back through the mountain. Let me see if I can find one about preventing and treating hypothermia in grass types.” She said to herself as she slide her new fingers gently over the books. Searching cover by cover while also being just a tad fascinated with her new digits.

Bluey spent a good forty-five minutes reading through the old medical book and scribbling down useful notes including how to treat the burn on Bastion’s back.

While she scribbled away she hardly noticed the voices talking to her. “Bluey! Yoohoo the world to Bluey!” Jenga said a little louder startling her. “Oh, there you are Jenga! Where did you guys wander off to?” She said as she finished writing down the last little bit of this passage.

“We're in the section of books detailing the lives of each individual of the Painted Sands.”

“The what?” She said looking up from her book. “Yeah, the Library has scrolls that detail your life. Bastion has been reading into our family's scrolls. For closure I suppose or maybe to see if all those stories Parapet used to tell him were true.”

Bluey sat there thinking for a moment “you said Pappy was still alive but left, right? Do you think if he is still alive the scrolls would tell me where he is?” “I believe they would yes. Did you want me to show you where it is?”

“If you could please.” She smiled standing up and following the old Sableye.

After about 15 minutes Jenga brought Bluey to a small outcrop of book and scroll shelves that had a short table with pillows around it and sitting at the table with a scroll rolled out across it, was Bastion reading away.

“I’ll let you kids do what you gotta do. I am going to go help the other ghosts tidy up the place a bit after all the fighting. If you need me just call.” Jenga smiled and scurried off to help put books back in their respective places.

Bluey turned to Bastion and sat next to him looking over the scrolls, “Find anything good?” -Currently reading over my grandmother’s scroll and I always thought she may have over-exaggerated some things. But from what I’ve been reading it seems this little psycho really did do all of the things she claimed she did. No wonder Grandfather, Rampart said she was the only Pokémon he felt intimidated by.-

Bluey chuckled and stood up walking over the scroll shelf and digging through them, “Dag….dag….dag….AHA! Daggermaw!” She chimed before sorting through the scrolls in the cubby, “Rosi, Olive, Emerald, Blanc, Magenta, Scar-” She paused looking at the scroll with her mother’s name on it. She hesitated but pulled it out and held it in her left hand while she continued to dig before finding her grandfather’s scroll. Once she had both of those, she snooped through the B column until she located the Bonozo family and pulled out her own scroll as well as her father’s.

She made her way back over to the table and set the scrolls down before curiosity made her snoop over Bastion’s shoulder reading over his family history with him. However, there was something she spotted further down the scroll that caught her attention. “By the great father, Bastion look!” She exclaimed while pointing to two names written on the scroll, “Your Sisters Barbican and Palisade are alive!”

Bastion stopped what he was reading and snapped his focus over to the part of the scroll Bluey was reading and gestured for her to read it aloud, to which she complied.

“Barbican Alora Cavalier was declared official sheriff of Painted Sands after serving as a temporary sheriff in her grandmother's place after the events that transpired on the 3rd of Summer. Her sister Palisade Gala Cavalier’s name has been changed to Palisade Gala Moor following her marriage to Brono Emmit Moor.”

Bluey then gasped before jabbing the scroll with her finger, “And that's not all! Bastion look, you’re an uncle!” He stared at the area Bluey pointed at in shock as she continued to read, “Palisade and Brono currently have 3 eggs incubating with 5 already hatched offspring Durin, Roseli, Razz, Leppa, and Oran. Oran is now the second recorded blue Pawniard birth in Painted Sands, since the birth of Blue Bella Bono- Your nephews just like me! Bastion that's amazing you have nieces and Nephews! Oh, we gotta go back to Painted Sands at some point!” Bluey then started to dig through her family's scrolls while blabbering on about her excitement over Bastion’s family as his shocked face melted into one of excitement as he looked down at the names.

-I can’t believe it. Lisa’s a mom…and- he paused what he was signing before shouting, “BARBI’S A KINGAMBIT?! THAT'S BULLSHIT!” “Oh, I didn’t even read that part! Y’know Barbi always did come off as the kind of girl who’d look great with that mustache, I could never pull it off. By the gods, she must be HUGE! She was always really tall even as Pawniards.” Bastion grumbled a bit about how now he had to play catch up with his older sister as Bluey chuckled and began reading through her family's scrolls. Starting with her grandfather. Reading through his life she smiled reliving all the stories he used to tell her about when she was little. Though he seemed to have left out how much of an obnoxious man he was in his youth with what he told her. As she continued to read she smiled reading over a line of text about the current year. “Bastion look! My Pappy is alive! And look at this it says he’s living in the remains of an ancient alpha Wailord skeleton. That's what that crazy Zoroark meant when she told me to go to where a giant once fell! She must have been talking about my Pappy! And look at the coordinates, he’s only a two-day journey from here! Bastion, we have to go!” Bastion was caught a little off guard by her excitement but smiled with a nod of agreement.

-We can do that so long as we go to Painted Sand’s at some point. This scroll says my Grandfather Rampart and Grandmother Parapet are making their way back to Sands and the surviving members will all be in the same place in a few months.-

“Oh yeah, we have to go to back Sands at some point. I can’t believe we still have families out there.” Bluey said getting a little misty-eyed as she read through her mother’s scroll.

Bastion quickly noticed Bluey's dip in mood as she read the scroll and he reached out and set his hand over hers in an attempt to comfort her.

“Sorry man I didn’t mean to bring the excitement down I just got to the part of my mom’s scroll about what happened the day she turned. Though the scroll is just incoherent nonsense really afterward. It doesn’t give me much to work with and even confirm if she even had slivers of memory left. I was hopping it might tell me.” she said wiping her face before opening her father’s scroll. -Should you be reading these ones Bluey? They only seem to be upsetting you.- “I want to. While I don’t like thinking of the sad bit it makes me feel better to read about them…and how much they loved each other and how much they loved me. It’s nice to read about them outside that day y’know?”

Bastion nodded and wen’ back to reading over his family's scrolls and getting to learn a little bit more about his nieces and nephews and what they are like. He’d smile hearing Bluey’s occasional giggles while reading over her father’s scroll or giving the occasional awe. “Look at how much of a love-sick fool my dad was for my mom when they were kids. He really was just smitten with her out the gate.”

-Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree considering how you view Percy.-

“I wish. Seems my parents had a lot easier of a time communicating and expressing their feelings despite the fact dad was deaf.”

Bastion shook his head and continued to read. The two sat there for another 15 minutes reading in silence before Bastion’s attention was snapped from his scroll by Bluey’s voice.

“Bastion?” Bastion tilted his head at Bluey hearing a tremble in her voice as she looked up at him. “My dad’s alive.” She said pointing to the page, “He’s a Drifloon! Traveling with Pappy. All this time My dad’s been alive as a ghost! I-I can’t believe it.” She said getting water eyed as she gripped the scroll tighter. Bastion reached out and gripped her shoulder to comfort her before furrowing his brow at the scroll and pointing at the passage at the end of the scroll.

-What’s that say?-

Bluey looked up at him before moving the scroll over so she could read. She then stared at the scroll in complete shock as if she couldn’t believe what she was reading.

Pages 11-21 of bastions evolution comic for the group PMDS! Done simultaneously with a timed event so sketches for now! The full rendered images will be posted as completed!

Pages 1-10

"Help us take down this criminal...Stunfisk!" Job Given by: Officers Percy and Bramble Reward: 100 Poke Bastion has Evolved! Items used: 1 evolution ticket.

(part 3 of mission 5!)

Blood

Thats all Bluey could smell wafting around her as massive black claws wrapped around her tiny body and ripped her from the ground and flew off with her. But it wasn’t her blood that she smelled, it wasn’t even fresh blood or just one persons, but very very old yet several very familiar scents.

While the claws that held her were covered in fresh blood by some unsuspecting victim she couldn’t make out if she knew or not the raggedy faded shawl brown from dried blood that dangled in her face held smells she knew. She could smell her mother, her father, her grandparents…and so many more who stained that shawl. When Bluey looked up all she saw was the frenzied face of a Yamask with its eyes laser focused ahead of it as it raced away from Bastion and Jenga who were hot on this ghosts tail. As Bluey looked down towards the others, she managed to get a look at the golden mask attached to the tail of the Yamask.

While it was impossible to not know who a Yamask was in the past due to their golden mask that was a resemblance of their once living face, it was almost impossible to make out the face on this mask as it had been clawed at and scratched away. The scattered direction and depth of the gouges in the gold made it clear it was done out of sheer anger and hatred. Did She do this to herself? What made her hate her own face? It was questions Bluey was certain she knew the answer to, some part of this Yamask had to have hated what it did.

“Let her go, Scarlet!” Jenga barked as he flung a stone that ricocheted off the mask with a loud clang. In response to the sudden pain the Yamask let out a gargled scream and dropped Bluey as her focused shifted from stealing the Pawniard, to mauling whoever dare strike her.

Bluey let off a shriek as she fell towards the ground, clenching her eyes shut she braced for impact but instead was only slightly winded as she felt herself impact against Bastion’s chest after the massive Bisharp leapt to catch her before she hit the floor.

“N-Nice save again, Bash!” Bluey said shakily feeling a bit week in her legs having fallen several feet, “That was a close one…heh…heh.”

While Bluey steadied herself Bastion caught sight of the Yamask slamming into his grandfather, sending the old Sableye clattering to the ground, breaking off one of the gem shards on his back with a swift rake of her massive claws. Bastion hissed at the sight and charged into the Yamask sending her through a tree with a swift backhand. Sending shards of the dead burnt trunks scattering around the clearing from the impact.

“I forgot she followed me here from Sands.” Jenga winced as he sat up looking at the ruined remains of one of his gems with disdain like someone kicked his favorite dog, “She’s been nothing but a menace since reawakening. Sometimes I think she still has fragments of memory, but she always reminds me she’s just a beast now.”

“Wait so that Yamask is my mother? She came back and she’s still like this?!” Bluey exclaimed.

“Death and Undeath doesn’t seem to be a cure for it either I am afraid. I made the mistake thinking she may have been snapped out of it when I saw her climb out of her grave, especially when she was so keen of slowly following me, I thought she might of remembered me but every time I let her get too close, she never hesitated to attack me.”

The trio watched Yamask fling herself from the splintered trunk towards bastion and was once again sent careening through another tree sending more shards of wood splintering into the clearing.

“Physical attacks like that aren’t gonna do anything to her Bastion! You are only pissing her off!” Jenga said as Scarlet picked herself up again. Bastion shook his head at Jenga in a way of showing him that injuring her wasn’t his intent.

“Bastion if you gotta knock her out just do it cause she’s only gonna keep coming at us!” Bluey barked, “I know you may not wanna, cause she’s what’s left of my mom, but she not my mom anymore, she’s just like any other feral!”

Bastion looked at her hesitantly but nodded and the third time she lunged at them a thin dark sheen came over Bastion’s arm before he hit her hard with ‘Metal Claw’ which combined with Bluey using ‘Assurance’ sent Scarlet careening across the clearing and into the door of the library with a loud thud, leaving the Yamask crumpled to the ground from the super effective move.

“What brute’s making a mess of my library” A strange voice echoed from around them, “You’ve overstayed your welcome.”

“Wh-what was that?” Bluey said as she and Bastion looked around but saw no sign of where the voice came from.

“One of the guardians…It’s Azelf.” Jenga whispered and tried to make himself look smaller, “We’ve made too much of a ruckus.”

“Some guardian! A coward hiding in the woods, if you wanna fight just come out and do it! Or are you chicken?!” Bluey yelled into the forest only for a giggle to ring back.

“Why would I dirty my hands on a lower lifeform like you when I have a far more perfect specimen to do it for me? I’ll see to it that you destroy each other!”

A ripple of a white mystic fire rang through the forest like a tidal wave, it made Bluey shutter as the energy rippled over her, but the pained scream that came from bastion as he clung to his head and dropped to his knees, whipped Bluey’s attention from the voice to her partner.

“Bash, yo Bash are you okay?!” She called and ran over to him, “Whats wrong, bud are y-”

CLANG

Before Bluey could even finish her sentence she was sent clattering to the ground as she was smacked away with all the force Bastion could muster. She winced and pulled herself off the ground, “What the hell, Bastion?! What’s wrong with-”

But instead of Bluey’s red eyes meeting Bastion’s blue eyes, they were met with eyes that had a dull pink glow as this strange white and blue alien-esque creature slithered its long tendril like tails around his neck. For a moment Bastion seemed to react and looked at his hand in horror before looking back at Bluey and before he could say anything or respond in anyway the tails tightened and all expression except for sheer hatred was drained from Bastion’s face. He glared down at Bluey and for the first time in her life she was actually a bit frightened of him.

“What did you do to Bastion?!”

“I’m just borrowing him. I’ve watched how defensive you are of each other, so I’ll see to it you rip each other apart. If you wish to get into my Library you’ll have to get past me. But I’ll be honest the only way you will leave this forest is in a body bag.” Azelf sneered before with a flick of its tails the shine in Bastion’s eyes got brighter and he charged her.

Bluey had little time to react as she was slammed with a hard swipe of Bastion’s metal claw his size and strength having no issue sending the tiny Pawniard flying several feet and clattering with the loud scrap and groan of her metal against the rocks in front of the Library.

“Bluey?! Are you ok?” Percy shouted as he spotted her impact with the stone and her roll to a halt, “What did that?”

“Bastion” Bluey groaned as Bramble helped her up. Both brothers looked at her with shock

“Bastion did this? Why would Bastion ever hit you?”

“He’s…uhg…he-he’s been…bewitched by whatever took over…Drauzen! B-but I don’t know if anyone else has been bewitched.” She whined and shook the dirt and rubble from her dented metal, “As if this day couldn’t get worse.”

“Wait bewitched? Like what happened in Sandstone and Onyx city?”

“Yeah, exactly like that.”

What can we do to help?”

“I can handle Bastion; He might hit like a rockslide, but he won’t kill me. Just catch me if he throws me a third time.”

“Third time! He hit you twice and your still stand-” But before Percy could finish his sentence Bastion exploded from the tree line and made a B-line for them.

Bramble didn’t hesitate to launch ‘Pin Needles’ at Bastion which made the large Bisharp wince but he didn’t steer away from his target as he lowered himself and barreled full force with iron head into Bluey, as he mowed over her Azelf had grown board of just watching and placing itself in the middle of the group, cackled and let off a blast of horrible light from what must have been the use of ‘Signal Beam’.

Bramble and Percy winced from the sting of bright light, and Bluey barely managed to stand back up. Every part of her stung with a dull throbbing pain as she looked at Bastion who for a moment shook Azelf’s will off and he looked at Bluey with both confusion and seeing just how bruised and dented she was, horror as she charged at him, he didn’t even notice at first that her eyes were pink and not red.

The sharp pain of Bluey’s ‘Fury Swipes’ made Bastion grit his teeth as he tried to back away from her shaking his head in disbelief that she was attacking him. Why? Why was she attacking him? And why was she so injured?

And after she slashed at him several times she stopped and shook her head as if snapping out of a trance, “B-Bastion? Wait you snapped out of it thank the great mother!” She exclaimed before looking at his bleeding cuts, “Wait did…did I hit you? I-I’m sorry I’d never!”

“Uhg, that little one is so boring!” Azelf yawned, “She’s a durable little thing but does such little damage. The big one is far more fun.”

Bastion reached his hand out to gesture that he was fine but before he could respond again, he grabbed at his head and slashed at Bluey throwing her through a tree nearby.

“Bastion stop!” Percy shouted at him to get his attention off of Bluey, “What’s wrong with you?”

But Bastion didn’t respond and merely stood glaring at the other Bisharp and with the way he stood reminding the other how much bigger he truly was. With a flick of Azelf’s tail Bastion charged at Percy and the two Bisharp locked blades with a violent flash of light that must have been from the sparks of colliding metal.

“W-Woah! Easy Bastion, look I don’t wanna fight you. But you are really not giving me much of a choice man!” Percy grunted as he did his best to keep Bastion locked in place, damn he was heavy.

Azelf laughed, “You lot are so easy to move like pawns of a chess board! This is too eas- AH!” it yelped as Bramble filled its back with needles.

“That hurt you little brat!” Azelf shrieked as it let loose another Signal Beam that for a moment blinded the three ‘mon around it long enough for Bastion to break away from Percy, “Deal with that brat!”

Bastion lunged for Bramble but before his blades made contact with Bramble’s throat there was a flash of light followed by the loud shriek of metal on metal as Bastions blades were locked with another’s.

“Thats Enough!” Bluey shouted into his face, Making the Bisharp halt for a moment.

“I was hoping that last hit had killed you.”Azelf frowned before sneering, “Well second times the charm.”

Bluey buckled a bit under the new force of weight coming from Bastion pressing his blades full force into her own, running out of options given her already weakened state she groaned, “I’m sorry buddy please understand this is for your own good!”

With that she focused all the energy she could into what she was about to do, positioning herself just right, she slammed her leg will all the force she could muster between the Bisharps legs. The pain that radiated through Bastion made him give a high-pitched gasp of a whine while through the shared link with Azelf even the mythical nearly collapsed from the pain as the Bisharp collapsed at Bluey’s legs curled in a fetal position with his hands between his legs while Bramble and Percy both winced having witnessed it.

“Bastion would never turn his blades on his family or his friends! And I’ll die before I ever let a bastard like you make him take the life of anyone he cares about! And for your sheer audacity of forcing him to live through that you’re gonna be the one leaving this forest in a hearse!” Bluey screamed as she charged the Azelf who was still reeling from the pain it experienced through Bastion.

Before the Azelf could react to what was happening it felt the horrible burning sting of Bluey’s blades against its chest as she left a deep X shape gash. The pain from the super effective move was anguishing and as Azelf glared at Bluey, it shrieked again this time as Percy slammed it int he back with his own ‘Assurance’ and Bramble wasted no time peppering it with ‘Pin Needle’ after ‘Pin Needle’.

Seeing as it was vastly outnumbered as losing control over the situation and several other ‘mon it had taken control of Azelf hissed at the group and attempted to stand its ground, but little did it know it had done the most foolish thing possible. It had struck the metaphorical hornet’s nest and as it tried to gain a better vantage point it was snatched from the air by the rake of Bluey’s ‘Night Slash.’

As Azelf hit the ground it tried to let out another Signal Beam but had failed, why had it failed? Then it realized the anguish it was feeling it should have gone away already, but it handn’t, it wasn’t just from the link to the Bisharp. Azelf whirled and looked over at Bastion who was shakily standing up.

“YOU! You used Torment on me?!” Azelf screamed as it was slashed this time by Percy.

“Serves you right!” Bluey barked.

Azelf let off a blast of psychic energy but watched to its own horror as the energy reflected off Bluey’s metal hide.

“Those tricks won’t work on any of us.” Bluey growled as she moved closer to the Azelf with her focus steel set on ripping it apart with her own claws.

Azelf was bristling from the rage it felt and having focused too hard on this small group it had quickly lost all control over the situation as it couldn’t keep its influence spread far enough if it continued to focus solely on them. Its injuries were also severe enough it would be foolish to attempt to take on this group now that they’d figured out a way to break its hold. Finally, having concluded its best strategy for the situation it waited until the four charged it again and with a snarl followed by a flash of light vanished as Bluey’s claws sliced the ground where it once stood.

She reeled back with a growl seeing that it got away. Taking a moment to scan the area for it and seeing it was long gone she sighed, “C’mon we have to help the others.”

-----------

Worry

That's all Bastion felt as the guilds descended from base camp. The entire journey towards the library he couldn’t stop looking back towards the direction of camp. A terrible guilty pit had formed in his stomach the further they walked.

“She’ll be ok Bash.” Bluey reassured as she gently set the blunt side of her blade against his leg, “Healers are looking her over, she’s been fed and warmed up you did a good thing! The kid is going to be ok.”

-I shouldn’t have left her alone. Did you hear how she wailed when they took her from me?- He signed with a frown before gripping at his bandana.

“I admit she was very unhappy to be separated from you. She probably wanted to cling to you because you were the one that found her. But once we get into this library and all is said and done we’ll go back and she can continue to rub her face against you like your own mini buffer until she wears the red out of your metal.” Bluey smiled.

-Do you think they will be able to find her a new home? So many more orphans are turning up because of this damned feral problem. I don’t want her to be- he paused before signing -just another kid left alone-

“I figured you were gonna keep her,” Bluey said with this matter-of-fact tone which caused Bastion’s attention to snap toward her.

-ME? Why me?-

“Well, all night you had her curled up against your neck all cozy in your bandana. And if looks could kill, half the healers would probably be dead from the glares you gave them for the audacity of touching her.” Bluey shrugged, “I mean why not keep her? You are old enough and more than capable of taking care of her, you took care of both of us after all.”

Bastion didn’t respond outside of a pointed eye contact before looking down at his hooves as his mind toyed with the thought.

“I think it would do you some good to have someone to look after and fuss over again! As much as you try and hide it, you’ve always been a tender sap when it comes to especially young babies” She said with a playful elbow to his leg, “And based on how you keep fretting like a worried mother at the idea of leaving her I don’t think you are all too against the idea of keeping her.”

-I’d have to think about it.- There was another pause and then he signed, -I still can’t believe what you told them to name her-

“Maggot is a great name! You sign that with a face that makes it look like you think me some cruel monster!” Bluey said with a bit of a traumatic over-the-top fake offended bravado, “My childhood nickname was bug what’s wrong with Maggot?”

-She’s not a bug Bluey! She’s a Sneazel! What was wrong with a normal respectable name like I don't know, Lily?- He signed a bit exasperated by the thought alone.

“Coming from the ‘sharp whose entire family’s naming gimmick was to name you guys after different words that are synonyms for barrier! Your name means WALL, Bastion! Said to the Pawn whose whole family had a name after a color gimmick!”

“Your name means wall?” Percy chuckled as he and Br amble walked past them.

“His father’s too!” Bluey shouted and waved her blades in the air, “Percy, Bramble, do you guys think the name I gave the kit is bad?”

“Maggot is kind of gross,” Percy said as Bramble nodded, “She doesn’t look like a worm.”

“I’m starting to feel ganged up on here! Maggot is a great name and you can call her mags or Maggie for short! You can’t tell me Lily would be a good name for her!”

“Well Lily doesn’t feel right either” Percy shrugged

-Maggie and Maggot have the same number of letters in it, Bluey! How is that shorter?!-

“Wait does it?” Percy paused as Bramble started to count on his fingers before showing Percy 6 fingers, “Oh yeah so it does…”

“Well doesn’t matter! Cherry agreed with me and that’s her name now.” Bluey huffed.

The group continued to travel for some time, the snowy mountain slowly becoming a charred forest with an eerie feeling to it. Something about this place made Bluey and Bastion feel anxious like something wasn’t quite right. And the further the guilds pressed on the more this feeling started to overwhelm them. That was until they reached the door of the library and a horde of ghosts descended upon the group alongside officer Drauzen, who started to behave strangely, before turning on the guilds and attacking them.

“What's wrong with Drauzen?!” Bluey barked toward’s Bastion as she sliced through a ghastly with a rather nasty night slash

-He’s been bewitched! The Gallade must be under the influence of one of these spirits- Bastion responded while carving through an annoyingly persistent haunter.

“Uhg what is with all these ghosts anyway?!” Bluey hissed as a Banette slashed at her before barking as she slashed back, “Piss off!”

Bastion noticing the Banette giving Bluey a hard time sought to insert himself between it and her as he started to wrangle it to the ground.

“Hay I had that! I know more dark-type moves than you do, I’m better suited for this Bash” she huffed while slicing through another Ghastly

-I’m bigger-

“Whatever.” She sighed before a flicker of light from a chandelure overcome by flashfire caught the corner of her eye, and as her eyes followed it she also noticed its target.

“Bramble, look out!” Bluey shouted before darting towards him and using her small size to knock him onto his butt, while a plume of fire shot over both their heads from what must have been the use of flamethrower.

“Are you ok? I didn’t cut you on my blades did I?” She asked looking back towards Bramble, who was quick to pick himself up off the ground before flashing her a thumbs up, “Oh good! Just making sure. Uhg of course we’ve got to deal with fire types!”

With that Bramble ran off to help his brother and several others on the other side of the clearing they found themselves in. As he trotted off several more ghosts descended on Bastion and Bluey, and while most of them were no trouble for the two. The Lampets caused several problems.

Bluey winced as a small plume of fire from a Lampet’s ember burned her arm. She was so wrapped up with the Lampet and several ghastly that started to swarm them that she didn’t even notice where the Chandelure was until it overheated and badly burned Bastion’s back.

“Bastion!” Bluey shrieked witnessing him cave onto his knees under the flame as something was flung past her from the forest and rocketed off the Chandelures glass, splintering it.

With the piercing sound of shattering glass, the Chandelure wailed and speed away as the ethereal flames within tried to spill out. Several other ghosts paused their fighting hearing the wails outside of a few persistent Ghastly which continued to try and attack the burned pokemon before Bluey started to slash them in half as they got too close.

“ENOUGH!” A voice screamed out from the forest, why was it so familiar?

Bastion whipped around to look at the source of the voice and Bluey saw his face lock into a look of shock and what looked like relief and pain for only a moment, her eyes also fell onto the Sableye that stepped out from the trees. There was no mistaking the shawl he wore was from Painted Sands, it was Jenga!

“Friends, friends please you leave these two be!” The Sable eye said with a watery voice as its gemlike eyes seemed wet as he pleaded with the other spirits to stop, “Thats my grandson, that's my Bastion! The one I told you all about, leave them be!”

“Holy shit that's your grandpa!” Bluey exclaimed as she watched the ghosts that were currently bothering them slink away to hassle the other guild members nearby, “What luck that they seemed to listen to him right Bash?” but Bastion didn’t respond, he didn’t even move. He was frozen as if he hadn’t processed what happened or who he was actually looking at. Jenga slowly crept closer to Bastion almost unsure if he should get close.

“I’m right…aren't I? Y-You’re my Bastion?” Jenga asked almost as if he couldn't even believe what he was seeing himself, “You have to be…you look like Barricade, but you have my sweet Star’s eyes...I can't believe it” Jenga choked back tears, “Y-YOUR ALIVE!”

Bluey watched all be it feeling a bit awkward as Jenga wept in what seemed to be happy relief to see Bastion as he reached up and gently cupped the side of Bisharp's face with his hand, the act causing a strange throaty noise to gurgle in Bastion’s throat as he caved into the touch in a way that seemed more exhaustive than relaxed. The sound of Bastion starting to weep snapped Bluey out of her stiffness, and she reached out to touch his side in hopes to comfort him.

“W-what happened?” Jenga asked as he whipped away the tears that trickled down Bastion’s face. He seemed to be worked up himself given the way his voice started to shake, “Wh…why did you leave? Where have you been? Why didn’t you come home? Why are you here?”

But when Bastion tried to respond as it seemed Jenga didn't understand what Bastion was signing to him.

“We ran from the monster…” Bluey said as Bastion nodded, “The one that ate our parents.”

“But why didn’t you come home?” Jenga asked before pausing and looking down at Bluey, “Wait…. Bluey? Thank the gods, you’re both alive! Wait did Verde find you, kids? Is that where you’ve been?” He said looking between Bastion and Bluey.

“Wait Pappy is alive?” Bluey was honestly shocked to hear that, “Why didn’t he come looking for us, then?!”

“He did! He and Rampart both left Painted Sands years ago to try and find you! Oh, they will be so relieved to see you are both ok! But where have you been?”

“We’ve been living in lakeside for a few years now,” Bluey said as Bastion stood up and composed himself.

“Lakeside? How the hell did you both get all the way down to Lakeside on your own?!” Jenga exclaimed.

“We just ran. I’m sorry it’s been such a long time it’s all kind of a blur.” Bluey said looking down towards her feet, “We both kind of blocked a lot of that out.”

“I’m just so relieved and happy to see you are both safe and alive. When the trackers couldn’t pick up a trail because of all the victims…and when we couldn’t find either of you…we…” Jenga paused for a moment to keep his composure, “we thought Scarlet had gotten you both.”

“Why would it be a bad thing if my mom got to us?” Bluey asked and before Bastion could stop Jenga he responded.

“Because your mother went feral? When Parapet recovered enough to speak, she said you were both there initially when it happened….Bluey do you… do you not remember?”

And with that suddenly a wave of terrible nightmares and memories of blurred-out faces crashed full force back into Bluey’s mind nearly causing her to fall to her knees, however, she stood fast. And all of a sudden her feelings about Percy’s mother started to make a lot more sense, why her hurting her sons filled bluey with so much anger, why she sometimes forgot her family's faces, why she couldn’t remember the face of the monster that killed her father. It was her mother. Her mother guillotined her father, and tried to do the same to her.

“N-no…no that can’t be right….my mom…she…she…ate my dad,” Bluey whimpered before looking up at Bastion's face and backing away from him before she started to cry, “…My mom ate your parents…”

Bastion frowned and scooped Bluey up into his arms to try and comfort her as Jenga looked at the both of them in horror, “By the great mother…you kids saw it happen?!”

“Bluey did.” A deep rumble of a voice came from Bastion, which startled Jenga and Bluey momentarily.

“I…I’m sorry I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Jenga said. And for several moments the three stood in silence before Bluey composed herself, “Put me down, Bash.” a request which he obliged.

“All these years and you were both still out there…I should have looked harder maybe we could have found you both sooner. But why did you come to the library?”

“We came hoping to find a cure for the madness. Why are you here?” Bluey said as she whipped her face on her Bandana.

“I also came here to find a cure. It's all I wanted to do since everything happened. It took years but I finally managed to find it. But the guardians don’t take kindly to strangers, and I’ve been stuck with it since.”

“Guardians?”

“By the great father the guardians!” Jenga exclaimed and started to run off toward the Guilds “We gotta warn your guildmates! They don’t realize the danger that lurks in that Library!”

Bastion and Bluey were quick to follow after the deceptively fast Sableye with Bluey falling slightly behind but over the sounds of their footsteps and the fighting Bluey heard a voice.

“Bluuuuueeeeeey!”

She halted and looked around which caught Bastion’s attention as he slid to a stop and turned around to look back at Bluey, which also made Jenga stop.

“Bluey what's wrong?” Jenga asked.

“I heard someone say my name it’s weird… For a second I thought-” She said and Jenga’s face contorted into one of horror-